It was the fifth straight victory for the Bobcats of coach Brian Fish.

“I really liked the fight I saw from the guys today,” Fish said. “We didn’t play with a lot of energy early, but they fought it. That makes you proud as a coach.”

Devonte Klines made 1 of 2 free throws for the Bobcats with 28 seconds left and the Eagles had two chances to win. Felix Von Hofe missed a jumper with two seconds left but the rebound went off Montana State and Ty Gibson’s catch-and-shoot 3-pointer was off the mark.

Eastern Washington’s Sir Washington hit a 3-pointer with seven seconds left in regulation and another at the buzzer, after Klines made 1 of 2 free throws, to force the overtime.

Quinton Everett added 15 points for the Bobcats (11-10, 6-4 Big Sky), who made 14 of 17 free throws, including 7 of 8 in OT to go with a 3-pointer from Hall, and had just four turnovers.

Jacob Wiley had 34 points on 14-of-18 shooting and nine rebounds for the Eagles (14-8, 6-3), who had won three straight. Washington and Bogdon Bliznyuk had 13 each.

Montana State’s greatest challenge Saturday was slowing down Wiley, EWU’s supremely athletic post player. The former Lewis-Clark State star who began his college career at Montana scored 21 points on 8-for-10 shooting in the first half, and his 34-point total marked the 11th-highest ever for a Bobcat opponent in Worthington Arena.

Playing with a slim lead for much of the second half, Frey’s three-pointer pushed MSU’s margin to five with 18 seconds to play. But a 3-pointer by Washington with seven seconds left, followed by an MSU free throw and then Washington’s buzzer beater, forced overtime.

“That was definitely a big shot, a lot of credit to him, a huge shot on his part,” Frey said of Washington’s trey.

When Gibson’s final long 3-pointer misfired, the Cats escaped with the victory, and an impromptu sojourn into the student section for a mass celebration followed.

“It feels great because we’re winning games and we’re giving them something to cheer for,” Fish said. “There’s nothing better than seeing the (students) happy that we’re winning and happy with how we’re competing.”

The crowd of 2,951 marked MSU’s biggest of the season, and traces the arc of the team it spent 95 minutes of game action pulling for this weekend.

“We’ve grown a lot this weekend,” Frey said. “We’re way more confident now in what we can do and I think we’re definitely heading in the right direction.”